No. 4 Pine Plains takes down Blue Devils, 7-1
By Skip Pearlman
The Haldane High School softball team met its match on June 6, falling, 7-1 in the Class C regional final to Section 9 champion Pine Plains, in a game played at North Rockland High School.
Pine Plains senior pitcher Alex McKenzie, who has played on the varsity since eighth grade, held the Section 1 champion Blue Devils to two hits while striking out seven batters. The Bombers won their third straight regional title and advanced to the state semifinals.
Haldane Coach Nick Lisikatos said his team played well but couldn’t counter McKenzie.
“You have to have hitting, pitching and defense, and we didn’t have all three,“ Lisikatos said. “We didn’t string enough hits together.
“It’s about what we expected,” he added. “We got in trouble early but got out of it. We gave up some bloop hits, but nothing major. But we just didn’t hit. Their pitcher cruised. We had a handful of strikeouts, and we hit the ball at people.”
McKenzie, who also went 2-for-2 with an RBI at the plate, carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning, when Haldane got a bloop single from Mary Mikalsen to break up the no-no, followed by a solid hit by Abigail Platt, who scored Haldane’s lone run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh. But that was it for offense.
“We did have some good at-bats,” Lisikatos said. “She threw a good game, but we didn’t step our hitting up.”
Lisikatos said Shianne Twoguns, Haldane’s starting pitcher, was effective, spreading a few hits “here and there,” but they turned into runs. He noted that Sydney Warren played well defensively, turning “a bases-loaded situation into an unassisted double play.”
Pine Plains went up 1-0 in the second, but tacked on two runs on a wild pitch and an errant throw in the third for a 3-0 lead. The Bombers added one in the fifth, and pulled away with a three-run sixth.
Haldane finished the season with a 14-4 record, and was ranked eighth in the state in Class C by the New York State Sportswriters Association in its June 10 poll. Pine Plains (16-6) was ranked fourth.
“I was super pleased with our season,” Lisikatos said after the game. “It was a smart bunch, they understood the game, and surpassed what was anticipated. We only graduate one senior, so we can do good things again next year.”
Photos by Scott Warren
